The forces of Nicolás Maduro’s regime arrested “La Pelúa”, a member of the criminal gang “Koki” Revete who terrorizes Caracas

The Venezuelan Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC) has announced the arrest of Carla Dorianny Díaz Torrealba, alias “La Pelúa”, in Fuerte Tiuna, parish of Coche, in the Venezuelan capital. was accompanied by Oscar Eduardo Duran, who would also be part of the group of Carlos Luis Revete, alias “Koki”.

Díaz Torrealba was known in the district of La Cota 905 to be one of the “favorite gariteras“De Revete. In Venezuela, the individual recruited by criminal gangs whose main function is called “garitero” is called “garitero”. monitor the presence of police officers from strategic points in the neighborhood, in order to alert the rest of the criminal group.

According to what local media reported Cactus24, the men in uniform also arrived at Falcón Alley, Santa Cruz Street, House 8 of Las Adjuntas, Municipality of Libertador, where managed to apprehend a third subject identified as Jender Edwin Díaz Rodríguez.

These arrests took place within the framework of the “Operation Grand Indian Chief Guaicaipuro”, Ordered by dictator Nicolás Maduro to disarm criminal gangs that have a strong presence in Cota 905, La Vega and Petare.

Meanwhile, the forces of the Chavista regime continue to seek Carlos Luis “Koki” Revete, for whom they offer a reward of $ 500,000.

Although he has been indicted since 2013 for crimes such as theft, homicide and drug trafficking, Revete enjoys great impunity. The non-aggression pact he concluded with the Venezuelan authorities demonstrates the almost total abdication of the state in slums controlled by mega gangs.

Revete was born in 1978 and raised in the popular neighborhoods of Caracas. Little is known of his life until 2013, when was charged with the murder of Greiber Danilo Alonso Lucas in the “Los Alpes” sector of Cota 905. It is believed that at this time, Revete belonged to a street gang known as “Los Chiches”, And that he killed Alonso Lucas in response to a photo that appeared on the latter’s social networks, in which he posed with an enemy of the gang.

Cota 905 is one of the most violent areas of Caracas and there are several urban gangs. For years, the sector has been subjected to police violence and arbitrariness, resulting in a deep antipathy of the inhabitants of the area towards the security organizations. In this context, gangs have acquired social power as de facto authorities in the community.

Revete rose to prominence as the gang leader’s lieutenant, Jesús Alberto Ramos Caldero, alias “El Chavo”, who set out in 2014 to unite the Caracas gangs against the police. This initiative has contributed to the emergence of a new criminal structure in Venezuela: the “megabandas”, each of which is made up of over 50 members, are more organized and better armed than traditional street gangs and mimic the hierarchical structure of Venezuela’s prison gangs. When Ramos was assassinated by the CICPC in January 2015, Revet took over the leadership of his new mega-gang at Cota 905. Revet continued Ramos’ project of unification, and some sources attribute to him the union of the Cota 905 gangs: El Cementerio and El Valle.

In January 2015, Cota 905 was included in the Maduro regime’s “Zones of Peace” program., whereby the authorities ceded territorial control to criminal organizations, in exchange for reducing violence. This truce was broken in July of the same year with the start of Operation People’s Liberation (PLO)., proposed by Maduro, which consisted of a strong crackdown that marked the return of police violence and human rights violations that had occurred in the past. The PLO’s first raid on Cota 905 left 15 people dead, only six of whom had criminal records. Revete was not among them, having taken refuge in a prison hours before the raid. He continued to evade capture throughout the operation, fueling the suspicion that the real target of the operation was Revete’s rivals.

In August 2017, then president (and current vice-president) of the National Constituent Assembly, Delcy Rodriguez, visited Cota 905. It is said that residents of the area have asked officials to restore the program of zones of peace and prohibit the entry of the police into the neighborhood. However, the sources of InSight Crime They revealed that the delegation also met Revete during the visit, and it is believed that they made a pact with the criminal boss. After that, The zone of peace program in the sector was reactivated and the security forces withdrew.

Cota 905’s state abandonment turned the area into a criminal enclave, where mega-gangs roamed freely.. Although the “pax mafiosa” between gangs and security forces may have reduced violence, it has also enabled gangs like Revete’s to accumulate heavy weapons and consolidate their criminal economies. In 2016, Revete’s gang numbered between 70 and 120 members, who used Cota 905 as a base of operations for extortion, kidnapping and vehicle theft. Although including allied gangs, it can number up to 180 men.

In the Cota 905 peace zone, Revete enjoys almost total impunity, which was massively demonstrated with a video that circulated on social networks, in which we see him openly participating in a block party. Even more alarmingly, such a program seems to allow mega-gangs to reach ever higher levels of integration and organization. Security reports indicate that in mid-2019, Revete was working with his fellow gang member, Carlos Alfredo Calderón Martínez, alias “El Vampi”, in the direction of a mega-gang of some 180 members, whose criminal empire extends beyond Caracas. Throughout 2019, there have been new signs that El Koki feels safe from harm. In June 2019, the criminal was present at the pompous funeral, in honor of one of the members of his band, whose ceremony was presided over by Alex de Castro, a famous salsa singer and Puerto Rican pastor.

In July, members of the “El Koki” gang attacked CICPC agents in Cota 905. Shortly after, officers were ordered to leave the area, a situation which became common when the “The gang” Koki ”. Basically, police are prohibited from entering gang-controlled areas.

At the end of December 2020 and the beginning of January 2021, the members of the group led by Revete took over areas of the La Vega district, a popular district of Caracas, which, although very close to Cota 905, had not been occupied by the group. criminal.

The gang’s action generated that on January 6, police officers from the Maduro regime, mainly the FAES, They will enter the neighborhood in search of Revete’s allies.. The operation lasted until Saturday January 9 and unofficially killed 23 people. Human rights defenders denounced the event as the highest-numbered police massacre that took place in the country.

Although most of the victims were not identified by their relatives, InSight Crime managed to confirm that “El Koki” was not one of those killed.

La banda de “El Koki” ha mantenido enfrentamientos casi semanales hasta abril 2021 con bandas rivales y con las fuerzas de seguridad en zonas aledañas a Cota 905. Esas confrontaciones, además de la presencia de varios miembros de la banda en Valles del Tuy, revelan What ‘El Koki’ appears to be moving forward with expansion plans.

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